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About Hush, Little Baby

From the winner of the 2005 Romantic Novel of the Year Award comes a heart-rending, evocative story of childhood discovery and disillusionment. It is a poignant and vivid exploration of a woman’s childhood experience and her visceral need to be a mother.

About Hush, Little Baby

From the winner of the 2005 Romantic Novel of the Year Award comes a heart-rending, evocative story of childhood discovery and disillusionment. It is a poignant and vivid exploration of a woman’s childhood experience and her visceral need to be a mother.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

About Katharine Davies

KATHARINE DAVIES grew up in Warwickshire and studied English and drama at the University of London. She taught English for several years, including a period in Sri Lanka, before receiving an M.A. in creative writing. The Madness of Love is… More about Katharine Davies

About Katharine Davies

KATHARINE DAVIES grew up in Warwickshire and studied English and drama at the University of London. She taught English for several years, including a period in Sri Lanka, before receiving an M.A. in creative writing. The Madness of Love is… More about Katharine Davies

Author Q&A

RANDOM HOUSE: Hush, Little Baby is deeper and more serious thanyour previous novel, The Madness of Love, yet it retains a similarmythical, dreamlike quality. Is this characteristic conscious or unconscious?

KATHARINE DAVIES: I think it is unconscious; it may come from myexperience of the world and my particular way of seeing things,and also perhaps from the way that I work, which is often throughwriting poetry. The opening of Hush, Little Baby began as a poemwritten at the very beginning of the spring, although I later cut outquite a lot of the images to give a greater feeling of momentum atthe start of the novel. There is a section later in the book thatcomes directly from a poem I had written, too. This is the poem—I’m sure you can relate it to the relevant part of the book.

MOTHSThe moths returned.They laid their eggs in dust.They came in the aftermath.They floated ghostly through kicked-in doors,they rested on the edges of dents in the walls,they flickered in the empty grate.They were indiscriminate:they flew from drawers;they didn’t distinguish mine from yours.They issued, dazed, from the pages of books.They were fragile flinders,they masqueradedas splinters, as smithereens.I killed them without qualm.In my palm they were nothing.Brittle carcasses. Dust.But you could not.When I left I thought of how they would seize their chanceto feast in your shirts undisturbed.I thought of the tiny opening and shutting of their wings.Of the closing of a door.Of the extinguishing of lights.Of the brush of your fingers,like moths settling and then taking flight.

RH: Do you write short stories as well?

KD: Yes, but I would like to do so more often—I think they are themost difficult form to write in, but they can be tremendous. I oftenread them. One short-story writer I love to read is Lorrie Moore. Ifind her story Terrific Mother extraordinarily moving and funny atthe same time. The subject matter of that story is not a millionmiles away from Hush, Little Baby.

RH: Sometimes, after finishing a novel, the author mentions thatshe will never really feel as though it is completed, but just asoften, a writer will say that she couldn’t possibly imagine addinganother scene or word. Does Hush, Little Baby fall into one ofthese categories? If so, can you say a little bit about why?

KD: When I wrote the last chapter of Hush, Little Baby, I knew,quite passionately, that I would never want to change a word of it,especially the final sentences. But I felt that way about the endingof The Madness of Love, too. I found that the endings of both thesebooks took me by surprise and almost wrote themselves. In bothcases, I found myself thinking, Ah! So this is how it ends!

RH: Many writers try to read other works that touch on topics similarto those in their own writing, while others swear that they haveto stay away from anything that reminds them of their own work.Do you fall into one these groups, and if so, why?

KD: I think the things I want to read about and write about areoften similar, but they are very universal subjects—love and relationshipsand “being human”—so I don’t avoid reading anythingparticularly. Perhaps if I were in the middle of writing a book Iwouldn’t read one that was about exactly the same subject matter.However, I did read one or two books that were somewhat relatedto mine. For example, I reread George Eliot’s Adam Bede, whichcontains the story of poor Hetty Sorrel and her illegitimate baby.

RH: How do you determine how much research is necessary toyour work, and how much of it is just a story that comes to youwith no need for background research?

KD: I find research quite difficult to do and am much happierworking from my own thoughts and imagination. I think researchcan become never-ending, with each new discovery resulting inanother bit of research. Even though this can be fascinating to do,and can result in wonderful novels, I personally often end up usingonly a fraction of any research I have done. I think you also haveto be careful that it doesn’t become an inhibiting factor—if youare basing a story on fact, or merging fact and fiction, it can behard to make decisions about what to keep the same and what tochange. If the whole thing is imaginary, then you are much moreliberated. That’s why I like using made-up places. Having saidthis, I sometimes do research by visiting a location I want to includein my book and then coming home and writing about it. I didthat with the chapter set in the London Butterfly House in Hush,Little Baby. This is the most enjoyable kind of research because Iget to visit lots of new and interesting places or I revisit places I alreadyknow and see them in a different light.

RH: How long did it take you to complete the first draft of Hush,Little Baby? And how long was it from the original idea to thecompleted book? How does this time line compare with that of TheMadness of Love?

KD: They probably took about the same amount of time, althoughmy first book was easier to write because the subject matter waslighter and I always had Shakespeare ’s Twelfth Night to refer to, asI was basing the book on the plot of the play. Funnily enough,Hush, Little Baby was in my mind even before I wrote The Madnessof Love, so all the ideas were there; it was just a case of gettingit down on paper and working out how to do the shifts between theadult and child perspectives.

RH: In addition to writing, you also teach. Do you find it difficultto juggle your writing schedule with your work schedule? Howoften do you write?

KD:When I am in the middle of a book, I write a thousand wordsa day, every day, and I edit the writing from the previous day in theevening, so I try to take breaks away from teaching to do this properly.When I teach creative writing, though, I find it stimulatingbecause I get ideas from doing the exercises in class with my studentsand I love the immediacy and freshness of new writing andnew ideas, which is all very inspiring. I think it is easier to jugglemy own writing schedule with teaching than with the deadlinesthat come into play once you are in the editing and productionstage of a novel.

RH: What do you do when you get stuck on a plot issue? How doyou break through writer’s block?

KD: Strangely, I don’t really get writer’s block. But I always makesure I go for lots of walks, as I hate sitting still at a desk for toolong and missing the whole day, especially when I am in the country.I find the natural world endlessly inspiring and also soothingwhen the writing is getting all too much.

RH: Do you think it’s important for readers to know anything personal about the author in order to better understand the content of a novel? Why or why not?

KD: It might be interesting, occasionally, for the reader to knowthe personal circumstances of a writer, but the appreciation of thework should never depend on it. It has to be remembered that anauthor may not actually want to tell the reader their personal circumstances,and that this is fair enough! I think there is far toomuch pressure on writers to tell readers about their private lives.Books should speak for themselves.

RH: What are two main themes you would like readers to takeaway from having read Hush, Little Baby?

KD: First the experience of childlessness, and the fear of beingchildless. I think the pain of this experience has formerly beensomething that has not been spoken of very much. Another thingthat the book is about is the effect of our childhood on our subsequentlife decisions, and the assimilation of our childhood andadult selves as we grow older and reach a new level of understandingand self-knowledge.

RANDOM HOUSE: Hush, Little Baby is deeper and more serious thanyour previous novel, The Madness of Love, yet it retains a similarmythical, dreamlike quality. Is this characteristic conscious or unconscious?

KATHARINE DAVIES: I think it is unconscious; it may come from myexperience of the world and my particular way of seeing things,and also perhaps from the way that I work, which is often throughwriting poetry. The opening of Hush, Little Baby began as a poemwritten at the very beginning of the spring, although I later cut outquite a lot of the images to give a greater feeling of momentum atthe start of the novel. There is a section later in the book thatcomes directly from a poem I had written, too. This is the poem—I’m sure you can relate it to the relevant part of the book.

MOTHSThe moths returned.They laid their eggs in dust.They came in the aftermath.They floated ghostly through kicked-in doors,they rested on the edges of dents in the walls,they flickered in the empty grate.They were indiscriminate:they flew from drawers;they didn’t distinguish mine from yours.They issued, dazed, from the pages of books.They were fragile flinders,they masqueradedas splinters, as smithereens.I killed them without qualm.In my palm they were nothing.Brittle carcasses. Dust.But you could not.When I left I thought of how they would seize their chanceto feast in your shirts undisturbed.I thought of the tiny opening and shutting of their wings.Of the closing of a door.Of the extinguishing of lights.Of the brush of your fingers,like moths settling and then taking flight.

RH: Do you write short stories as well?

KD: Yes, but I would like to do so more often—I think they are themost difficult form to write in, but they can be tremendous. I oftenread them. One short-story writer I love to read is Lorrie Moore. Ifind her story Terrific Mother extraordinarily moving and funny atthe same time. The subject matter of that story is not a millionmiles away from Hush, Little Baby.

RH: Sometimes, after finishing a novel, the author mentions thatshe will never really feel as though it is completed, but just asoften, a writer will say that she couldn’t possibly imagine addinganother scene or word. Does Hush, Little Baby fall into one ofthese categories? If so, can you say a little bit about why?

KD: When I wrote the last chapter of Hush, Little Baby, I knew,quite passionately, that I would never want to change a word of it,especially the final sentences. But I felt that way about the endingof The Madness of Love, too. I found that the endings of both thesebooks took me by surprise and almost wrote themselves. In bothcases, I found myself thinking, Ah! So this is how it ends!

RH: Many writers try to read other works that touch on topics similarto those in their own writing, while others swear that they haveto stay away from anything that reminds them of their own work.Do you fall into one these groups, and if so, why?

KD: I think the things I want to read about and write about areoften similar, but they are very universal subjects—love and relationshipsand “being human”—so I don’t avoid reading anythingparticularly. Perhaps if I were in the middle of writing a book Iwouldn’t read one that was about exactly the same subject matter.However, I did read one or two books that were somewhat relatedto mine. For example, I reread George Eliot’s Adam Bede, whichcontains the story of poor Hetty Sorrel and her illegitimate baby.

RH: How do you determine how much research is necessary toyour work, and how much of it is just a story that comes to youwith no need for background research?

KD: I find research quite difficult to do and am much happierworking from my own thoughts and imagination. I think researchcan become never-ending, with each new discovery resulting inanother bit of research. Even though this can be fascinating to do,and can result in wonderful novels, I personally often end up usingonly a fraction of any research I have done. I think you also haveto be careful that it doesn’t become an inhibiting factor—if youare basing a story on fact, or merging fact and fiction, it can behard to make decisions about what to keep the same and what tochange. If the whole thing is imaginary, then you are much moreliberated. That’s why I like using made-up places. Having saidthis, I sometimes do research by visiting a location I want to includein my book and then coming home and writing about it. I didthat with the chapter set in the London Butterfly House in Hush,Little Baby. This is the most enjoyable kind of research because Iget to visit lots of new and interesting places or I revisit places I alreadyknow and see them in a different light.

RH: How long did it take you to complete the first draft of Hush,Little Baby? And how long was it from the original idea to thecompleted book? How does this time line compare with that of TheMadness of Love?

KD: They probably took about the same amount of time, althoughmy first book was easier to write because the subject matter waslighter and I always had Shakespeare ’s Twelfth Night to refer to, asI was basing the book on the plot of the play. Funnily enough,Hush, Little Baby was in my mind even before I wrote The Madnessof Love, so all the ideas were there; it was just a case of gettingit down on paper and working out how to do the shifts between theadult and child perspectives.

RH: In addition to writing, you also teach. Do you find it difficultto juggle your writing schedule with your work schedule? Howoften do you write?

KD:When I am in the middle of a book, I write a thousand wordsa day, every day, and I edit the writing from the previous day in theevening, so I try to take breaks away from teaching to do this properly.When I teach creative writing, though, I find it stimulatingbecause I get ideas from doing the exercises in class with my studentsand I love the immediacy and freshness of new writing andnew ideas, which is all very inspiring. I think it is easier to jugglemy own writing schedule with teaching than with the deadlinesthat come into play once you are in the editing and productionstage of a novel.

RH: What do you do when you get stuck on a plot issue? How doyou break through writer’s block?

KD: Strangely, I don’t really get writer’s block. But I always makesure I go for lots of walks, as I hate sitting still at a desk for toolong and missing the whole day, especially when I am in the country.I find the natural world endlessly inspiring and also soothingwhen the writing is getting all too much.

RH: Do you think it’s important for readers to know anything personal about the author in order to better understand the content of a novel? Why or why not?

KD: It might be interesting, occasionally, for the reader to knowthe personal circumstances of a writer, but the appreciation of thework should never depend on it. It has to be remembered that anauthor may not actually want to tell the reader their personal circumstances,and that this is fair enough! I think there is far toomuch pressure on writers to tell readers about their private lives.Books should speak for themselves.

RH: What are two main themes you would like readers to takeaway from having read Hush, Little Baby?

KD: First the experience of childlessness, and the fear of beingchildless. I think the pain of this experience has formerly beensomething that has not been spoken of very much. Another thingthat the book is about is the effect of our childhood on our subsequentlife decisions, and the assimilation of our childhood andadult selves as we grow older and reach a new level of understandingand self-knowledge.